Another Demon To Deal With
by Kasumi Tsukiko
Summary: When an unknowing Jinchuuriki who lives in the Hidden Leaf Village decides to run away she learns that there is more to her than she ever thought possible, and what happens when Raida falls in love with the host... NaruxOc Full summery in my profile
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything in this story besides Ryu and Raida.**

Prologue: Almost Free When All Hell Broke Loose

A girl walked through the forest, her midnight black hair swaying with every step. Her large gray eyes, both beautiful and hypnotic, glowed through the unyielding darkness around her as two viper-like fangs protruded from between her blood red lips. She knew she was being followed; she was always being followed as ordered by the Hokage himself, and whenever she got too far from the village those who were following her that day would force her to turn around… and that is why they were getting so close now. '_Why am I so different from everybody else?! I am not important, so why waste manpower by making them follow me around?_' She thought as a desperate rage coursed through her veins, her pale skin giving her the appearance of a goddess in the darkness but making it impossible to sneak away from those responsible for following her. '_Maybe if I can get to the river… I could leave the Leaf Village behind and finally be free…_' She thought as she heard the friendly gurgling of the river, and she began running to her left where the sound was loudest, knowing that the river would be deep enough to swim away in… and the dogs wouldn't be able to track her through the water.

"Raida, get back here this moment! You have gone far enough; you need to head back towards the village!" One of the people yelled and she instantly recognized the voice as Ryuji, the only person that was always on duty to watch her. "Help me catch her damn it! Don't let her get away!" Ryuji shouted angrily at the others as Raida moved agilely between the trees, her movements almost serpent-like.

"You won't catch me even if the whole village was here to help you… you couldn't catch me before and you can't now." She said, her soft voice echoing harshly through the forest. "Why do you always come back to watch me though? Why do you follow me, driving me crazy?" She asked with both honest curiosity and contempt.

Ryuji looked slightly stunned, this was the second time since he had been assigned the job of watching over Raida four years ago and the last time she spoke to him she killed one of his men were killed after they tried protecting him. His golden eyes widened as he saw her look directly at him with a glare that would have stopped him in his tracks if he was alone, but to his relief her gaze was full of hidden determination… not the inhuman amount of bloodlust that was present last time. "Raida, come back to the village with me…" He said, his chestnut brown hair covering his eyes. She stopped as she narrowed her eyes, coming to an abrupt stop and he signaled to the others who hid in the shadows around them to stop. "Come back with us little Raida, we don't want to hurt you." He said softly as he moved closer towards her, Raida standing unnaturally still as he did.

"So you'll hurt me if I don't come back with you? Are you so sure that you can? After all, I am what nightmares are made of… the last time you tried to hurt me I ended up killing someone." She hissed as softly as a gentle breeze, and somehow the softness made it seem all the more threatening. "Raida… little dragon… do you know why they named me that? Well do you want to know Ryuji… dragon man?" She laughed mockingly as she saw the startled look on his face as she said his name. "Yes I know your name you idiot, you aren't the only one that can follow someone around unnoticed."

"But… you never came near me!" Ryuji protested, answered once again by her mocking laughter.

"Come on ANBU-san, you should know that just because I never went near you or your damn house doesn't mean that I wouldn't find out about who you were and that you live only twenty-five minutes away from my apartment. You know… I feel so sorry for you because you are sixteen and an ANBU Black Ops… but you live with your parents." She laughed again, but this time it was full of sorrow that seemed like it would turn into a sob at any moment, before she sighed and placed her hand on the hilt of a katana that rested on her hip. "Catch me if you can!" She said as she took off into the forest and jumped head-first into the river, swimming swiftly downstream, leaving a dazed Ryuji behind her.

* * *

Raida dragged herself out of the cold water and onto the sandy shore of the river, her movements slow and weary from the three hours she had spent swimming in the icy cold water that had taken her away from the Leaf Village. She laid down on the sand as the sun rose slowly in the now flaming sky, shivering from the chill that had sunken into her bones as she fell into a deep sleep.

Her dreams were full of violence, destruction, death, pain, and bloodshed. The last image that she saw before she woke up screaming and covered in sweat was a large fox, its slited crimson eyes glaring into her blood red ones as its nine tails lashed about in uncontrollable fury. She sat up, gasping for breath as she fought against the terror that overwhelmed her, and suddenly finding herself fighting against the familiar sense that she was being studied from the shadows around her. "Who's out there?" She hissed abruptly, her voice shaking from the rage she suddenly felt. "Come on out, don't you think that after being watched my whole life that I wouldn't be able to tell that I was being watched!?"

When no one answered her or showed themselves she smiled suddenly, seeing this as a challenge to find them. She grabbed at her waist and drew the only weapon that she had on her as she stood up, her fangs glinting in the moons last light as the sun finally overpowered it while the blood red sky slowly turned blue. The katana was clean and well cared for the scabbard decorated with a picture of a snake wrapped around it, the cold, gray blade glowing with the sunlight as she spun around, looking for any signs of life around her.

"Put your blade away…" Someone finally said in a deep, husky voice. She shied away from the voice, gripping the hilt of her katana tighter as she took a step back.

"Who _are_ you?" She demanded roughly, her eyes narrowed in cautious suspicion.

"That does not matter, the only that does matter right now is who are you?" The person said as Raida laughed rebelliously.

"Look you jerk-off, tell me who the hell you are and I _may_ spare your pathetic life… if not then I'll be forced to kill you." She said and the silence that followed her words was thick with tension. The sand under her feet began shifting and wrapped around her ankles, moving slowly up to her thigh. She screamed and tried to step back, away from the odd sand but whimpered with sudden terror when she realized that she couldn't move her legs at all. Her eyes hardened with hate and terror as she looked around, needing someone to attack for the trap she was stuck in. "COWARD!!" She shrieked and the invisible attacker laughter surrounded the air around her.

"Your eyes have been filled with hate this whole time… why?" The person asked, his husky voice patient, as if he had all of eternity to wait for her answer.

"None… of your… DAMN… business!" She growled as she tried to tried to pull her legs away from the sand that was wrapped too tightly around her to let her get away.

"But it is… seeing as I found you all alone, and no one would ever know what happened to you. Now who are you … and why do you have so much hatred in your heart?" He said as she howled in agony, the sand slowly crushing her legs.

"Fine! Let me go and I'll tell you anything you want!" She screamed as she heard a bone snap. The man paused, as if weighing his options, and slowly the sand loosened but did not release her. "Hey! Let me go!" She said and struggled again until she moved her left leg and a terrible pain tear through her body. "You… You broke my god damn leg!" She howled her voice thick with pain.

"The broken bone won't kill you but I will. Who are you?" He demanded and Raida shivered involuntarily at the smell of her own blood.

"I… I… I am Raida." She hissed as her heart began pounding faster and harder while her mind became foggy. "I come from the Leaf Village… but I came alone. I am the last member of the Kasanagi clan alive… my whole clan was murdered by a group of psychopaths except for my pregnant mother who they killed only moments after she gave birth to me, and they all died soon after that. I hate hurting others and killing them but I enjoy a good fight. I am twelve and one of the best damn taijutsu, genjutsu, and ninjutsu specialist in the academy, only second to a bastard and his little stalker… and now that you know about me I want to know more about you. Who are you? Where are you from? How old are you?" Her grey eyes looked like liquid silver in the light and her eyes where shadowed by beautiful, natural golden markings that encircled her eyes.

"I am Gaara of the Sand, my home in the Hidden Sand Village." He said jumping off of the branch of a tree, his red hair reminding her of fresh blood and his teal eyes that were shadowed by black rings full of hate, contradicting the 'love' tattoo on his forehead. The oddest thing about him was the ominous gourd that rested on his back, giving her a feeling of odd, old familiarity.

'_Ugh… I don't feel so good…_' She thought suddenly as her heart beat so hard that it felt like it was going to break her ribs, nausea keeping her from answering the boy named Garra. She swayed slightly before falling half-way forwards, her broken leg snapping again as she put her weight on it, and the sand being the only thing keeping her from falling onto the shore as everything around her went black.

* * *

Raida opened her eyes confused for a moment, unable to remember closing her eyes and definitely unable to remember if she was in a bleached white room when she fell asleep. "Where… am I?" She asked groggily, her vision swirling as she as she sat up and a dull pain throbbing began in her left leg. She yelped in shock at the pain before pulling off the covers and staring oddly detached and confused at the off-white caste on the leg that was throbbing softly, warning her that she had been hurt.

The door opened noisily as a young blond haired girl came into the room, her brown eyes flicking towards Raida, who looked at her with dulled grey eyes that even with the numbness created by the morphine were hypnotic, like a small animal gazing into the eyes of a cobra. "You're finally awake? You have been here for three days, and you were hissing most of the time. Gaara will be-" She spoke briskly, almost fearfully but she was cut off by an unearthly, enraged, and tortured scream.

"Where are all my things? My mother's sword! Where is it?" She screeched as her eyes widened in realization that the girl took her things and then narrowed with a deadly rage as she sized up the girl. All she carried was a giant fan on her back… no sign of her mother's precious sword. "Where…. Is …. My… God… Damn… Sword!?" She hissed gutturally, her fangs exposed in a menacing grimace as she slipped out of bed but unable to hold her weight she fell on her butt. "That katana is the only thing that I have left of my mother… so tell me where the fuck I can find it or I'll rip your throat out before you can even take a breath to scream for someone to help you!"

She stumbled to her feet and even with broken leg she was behind the girl within moments, her hand pulling her head back by her blond hair, her fangs just above the jugular vein. "I don't know where your sword is! Ask Gaara when he comes!" The blond haired girl growled lowly as Raida snorted with contempt and murderous malevolence.

"I don't know who the fuck you are talking about you bitch, so just give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you now for stealing from me!" She muttered and laughed to herself as the girl turned around, trying to hit her while reaching to grab her fan.

"Temari cut it out." A boy said with cold teal eyes and blood red hair. Raida and the girl who he called Temari both froze, only instead of being filled with fear like Temari Raida's eyes burned with vengeful wrath.

"You! You were the one who attacked me, broke my leg, and stole my mother's sword from me!" She hissed angrily, bloodlust visible in her eyes that had been narrowed into slits.

"Shut up and you'll get your katana back soo-"

"No! I want it now!" She screamed, cutting him off as she shook her head violently.

"You'll get your damn katana back soon… now shut up!" Gaara said and Raida stiffened with indignation as she let go of Temari's hair while her eyes began turning blood red, her pupils becoming slits.

"Why do you have to act like such an ass? I'm not an animal that you can order around! You're a fucking asshole!" She hissed as her fangs grew longer and her voice became deeper, more feral. "**Come on and give me my katana so we can go outside and finish this bullshit!**" She hissed as she tossed Temari aside and lunging at Gaara. Sand from the large, hollow gourd on his back surrounding him… protecting him from her fierce blows. He watched as she became much more fearsome in appearance, her eyes having become blood red, her nails becoming claws, her skin becoming slightly darker and more scale-like while an ominous, bloodthirsty black chakra began swirling around her.

She came to an abrupt and violent halt before she walked around him looking for some weakness in the sand. After several minutes of her circling she was overcome by her own unusually monstrous bloodlust and she aimed a kick at his head, but once again the sand protected him from her dangerously powerful blow. "Raida you're going to hurt yourself!" Gaara warned as she tried punching through the sand.

"**Why… do you… care?**" She hissed between the barrage of kicks and punches as he watched her watched her futile stubbornness with curiosity. "**Come on! Let me get one good hit in!**" She hissed more to herself than anyone else before she growled and running out the door, into the main hallway of the hospital. She ran for the door and burst out of the building as if her nightmare fox were right behind her, the caste slowing her slightly as she ran through the village and into the desert. She ran as fast as her body would take her and by the time Gaara caught up to her she had gotten ten miles from the village.

"Raida, where will you go? The Leaf Village has sent shinobi to every nation to look for you; they are even in our village. They haven't found you because I have been hiding you, you belong to me." He looked crazy as he said this but his statement made sense to her in a sickening way as he continued. "I could have killed you, but I let you live and brought you here to be healed."

"**First of all, I would rather die than be around someone that sees me as property to be owned, and second you were the one who hurt me in the first place!**" She shouted loudly, her eyes wide with horror as she thought about being a piece of property that could be claimed by anyone that wanted her. She had somehow managed to get herself into a worse situation than she was in back in the Leaf Village, and at least there she was somewhat free… and she wasn't with some psychotic boy that thought she was his. She would willingly go back home to the Leaf Village if she could somehow get away from Gaara long enough to do so. "**I'll go back to the Leaf Village then… I want to go home… I want my sword… I want revenge on those that killed my family. I can't get any of the things I want here Gaara, let me go!**" She took a step forward and glared down at her caste with distaste before using her new claws and inhuman strength to rip it off.

Gaara didn't even flinch as he saw her try to kick him but for the first time the sand was too slow and her blow connected with his side, the sheer power behind her blow knocking the air from his lungs, leaving him gasping for breath. "**You think you own me!? You are hurt after only one god damn kick! If anyone owns anything, I own you!**" She hissed angrily, her movements now so quick that Gaara could barely keep up with them.

Gaara began laughing as he grabbed his side, now sending sharp pains through his body whenever he moved. "This… pain… Raida do you fear me?" Garra asked as an odd look appeared in his eyes.

"**No… you're too pathetic to be afraid of.**" She answered instantly, the honesty in her voice brutally clear. Gaara looked at her and the chakra that was still radiating around her.

"Then you'll need to be taught to fear me, won't you?" He growled as the sand began to cover him, encasing him like armor as Raida sensed a violent change in him.

"**What are yo-**" She fell silent as the sand began to wrap around her, and before it could trap her there she jumped away and ran from the dangerous sand. Since the sand was everywhere she spent all her time avoiding Gaara's sand attacks, leaving her no time or room for a retaliatory strike.

"If I can't have you then no one will…" He said and she shivered, understanding the threat.

"**You're crazy!**" She whispered breathlessly, her mind racing with thoughts of escape. She glanced around, her blood red eyes wild with the need to get away from the boy she was fighting. "**Fine! You want a fight? I'll give you a fight that you'll never forget!**" She growled before jumping high into the air, away from Gaara as she began forming hand signs. The moment that she began to use her chakra the black chakra began to take shape, forming into an eight tailed and eight headed snake, all of the heads blood red eyes focused on Gaara, the necks flattened into hoods as the black body coiled around Raida.

Gaara could barely control his shock at the sight of the snake and suddenly from within the coils a large fireball flew towards Gaara. He jumped back and his sand formed a shell around him, but she was right beside him before he was safely enclosed in the sand. She stood still, smirking for a moment before she pulled back and her fist hit Gaara in the jaw. "Raida, what are you?" He asked through the pain of the in his jaw.

"**None of your damn business.**" She growled as the snake disappeared into the sky. She jumped over him as the sand tried latching onto her and landed lightly on her feet before lunging at him again, her fangs sinking through his sand armor and into the soft, warm flesh of his neck.

The sand began to react violently, pounding against her and wrapping around her delicate body as she pulled herself away from the warmth of his body. "I know now why I want you so much… to take such a spirited and wild person like you and break them… tame them, it will make my existence worth more that anyone would have ever thought possible. To figure out all your mysteries and secrets… will be a pleasure." He said in his growling, husky voice and her blood red eyes narrowed fiercely, her body trembling with an overwhelming longing for his death.

"**No Gaara, you will never be able to learn everything about me… nor will you ever have the power to tame me. You are nothing when compared to me… nothing! You're not the one in control… I am bitch! If you were better than me than I wouldn't have been able to harm you at all.**" She hissed before the scent of Gaara's blood on her lips hit her with full force. She gagged once before she threw up the small amount of blood that she had swallowed on accident. The smell and taste of the blood together seemed to have caused a part of her that had been dormant but a there her whole life to awaken completely, and she tried to fight against the sand that was wrapped tightly around her whole body and grab her head when eight voices began assaulting her mind. She screamed in agony as the voices spoke, her heart causing her physical pain the longer she allowed the voices to speak, the scream resembling a wild animal in pain.

'_**Break out of the sand**_', '_**Kill him now**_', '_**Shukaku is weak, you can kill him**_', and '_**She's too weak, she is worthless as a host**_' were the most commonly spoken. The voices began fighting amongst themselves so loudly that she hissed through clenched teeth before she yelled as loudly and threatening as she could manage. "**Shut the fuck up!**" The voices hissed in anger as she felt as if someone was stabbing her through the heart but the pain couldn't kill her, and she howled loudly, her voice full of the pain that she was feeling.

Gaara looked shocked at the violent and tortured scream that tore through the air and in an attempt to quiet her he had the sand the sand that encased her body constrict slightly, squeezing the air from her lungs. She forced herself to look at him, her eyes demented and blood-like eyes before she shrieked again, the noise full of bloodlust and rage. "**I'm not going to kill him or anyone else, and I am **_**not**_** weak! Gaara… let me go; they do not like you hurting me!**" She screeched and struggled violently against the sand, her lungs burning with the sudden lack of air.

Gaara refused to do what she told her but did loosen the sand slightly so that she could breathe again. "Who are they?" He asked as his curiosity burned through him.

She smiled inwardly as she realized that she could move her hands slightly and used this to her advantage. Doing what the voices were telling her to she began forming hand signs slowly, the sand not loose enough to form them quickly. "**You don't want to know… and I don't know who they are.**" She said, speaking quietly to make him focus on her voice. Seeing Gaara's face become emotionless she became furious thinking that he could somehow know what she was planning and she finished the hand signs, laughing as Gaara took her place inside the shell of sand. The sand fell away slowly from Gaara as she looked at him for the last time and using her enhanced speed, she took off towards the east… back towards her home… away from Gaara and the monster she had become in the nightmare that she had become trapped in while in the Sand Village.

* * *

As soon as she was back at the river that had delivered her to this hellish nightmare, the voices were hissing with fury at allowing Gaara, who they were still calling Shukaku, to live and began drawing back the black chakra, leaving her unconscious by the river when they were done.

Gaara had followed her a little over a mile before the intense pain that had flared up from the two holes in his neck that her fangs had made forced him to stop and turn around, returning to the Sand Village. The doctors there said that he had been bitten by a snake, and that he was lucky that it hadn't killed him… that the snake hadn't injected enough venom for that. He was in a deadly and dark moon when his brother and sister found him in his room, holding Raida's katana as he examined it. He glared at them coldly for a few moments before turning his attention back to the sword.

"So Gaara you didn't kill her did you?" She asked and although he didn't reply she flinched when the cork for his gourd popped out of the top and sand cascaded onto the floor.

"Well of you didn't kill her, do you know where she is?" The boy asked, looking at his sullen, brooding brother.

"Yes Kankuro I do… she went back to the Leaf Village… before she bit me. It wasn't a snake… it was her that bit me." She growled with barely controlled and concealed rage, and both Kankuro and Temari were glad that she had hurt him or else he would have followed her back to the Leaf Village and destroyed the village to make sure that she had nowhere to go except the Sand Village.

"Well the next time the Leaf Village lets the other villages past the gates we will go and get her if she doesn't come back for her precious katana first, okay? Just don't do anything before then okay?" Temari asked and Gaara nodded, obviously done talking to his siblings. They left him in the room and Gaara put the katana down on the table before he went and looked out the window. '_The full moon…_' He thought as he opened the window and almost as if it were a drug, his eyes glanced back at the sword. He sighed and went back to grab it, went back to the window, opened it and climbed out of it. He sat on the roof looking at the moon with the katana in his hands as he thought about what happened earlier. '_I will find her again and the moment that I do I will never let her get away again. Then I will figure out just what happened today…_' He thought as his grip on the hilt of the katana tightened as he spent the rest of the night watching the moon.


	2. Chapter One

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, I am just a fan. But I do own Raida and Ryu… Glares threateningly at Garra for his behavior in the last chapter **

'I will find her again and the moment that I do I will never let her get away again. Then I will figure out just what happened today…_' He thought as his grip on the hilt of the katana tightened as he spent the rest of the night watching the moon._

Chapter One: The Trust Of One Person

Raida woke up to a severe pain in her chest, and she shrieked in terror. It took her a few moments to realize that she was back in the Leaf Village but… '_How did I get here? Was all that just another nightmare?_' She thought nervously as she shook her head to clear her thoughts and got out of the large, soft bed that she bought last year with her extra money as her gray eyes clouding with fear as she saw her mother's sword _was_ missing.

"God please forgive me…" She gasped as the facts of her time in the Sand Village began slowly become clearer, the knowledge that it was real forcing them back into focus with startling affects and at that moment Ryuji burst into the small room, his golden eyes smoldering with a variety of emotions like rage, concern, and another emotion she couldn't place.

"What were you thinking?" He shouted, and she flinched at the sound of his voice.

"Ryuji…" She muttered hoarsely, sinking to the ground in despair at the crushing weight of her memories. Her eyes glowed silver in the darkness around her, the pain and confusion in her voice cutting through the anger, sinking into his heart. "I need to see the Hokage… jerk." She said in an attempt to be tough, but failed miserably in her emotional state. The lack of her rough exterior left her looking desolate and that must have shattered Ryuji's anger because instead of yelling some more he knelt beside her and embraced her in a warm, soothing, protective hug. This was too much for Raida as she shuddered and began sobbing at the loss of her mother's last possession and guilt that she felt broke through her mask of anger and violence she normally wore, all the tension in her back and shoulders slowly loosening.

"Ry… Ryuji I am so pathetic… I could have been found again if _he_ had looked, and _he_ still has my mother's katana, but if I go back to get it I won't be able to come back… _he_ won't let me…" She said clinging to him as if he were the only thing that kept her from Garra and the monster that she had become around him, and where Garra hadn't been able to scare her… the monster she was horrified her.

Ryuji comforted her as much as he could through his touch, and she gladly welcomed his comfort. "Raida… you are not pathetic!" He said and she pulled away from him abruptly. Her eyes were puffy and red while her black hair clung to her tear soaked cheeks making her look unusually vulnerable, but as she examined him her eyes blazed with a fiery courage.

"You are the first one to ever hug me… why did you do it?" She asked as she became visibly tense once again, and she glared at him suspiciously as she backed away from him to put a barrier between them.

"Stupid girl…" Ryuji muttered under his breath, watching as she retreated from him but his voice was thick with concern. "You were so upset that anyone would have… and you are still upset!" He said and although she still looked doubtful she had stopped backing away from him.

"I still wanna see the Hokage Ryuji…" She demanded softly, her old self that she had been before she went to the Sand Village slowly returning to her.

"Tomorrow but you need to get some sleep now." He said and she hissed softly with uncontrolled fury.

"NO! HE HAS A LOT OF EXPLAINING TO DO, AND HE NEEDS TO DO IT NOW!" She hissed as she exploded in a violent rage, walking slowly, menacingly, towards Ryuji, and her grey eyes burning with unspoken questions. She took a deep breath to calm down, but all that happened was that her breathing became more even and relaxed. "I have gone from wondering why I am so different from everyone else to having a damn good idea, and I want answers!"

"Raida do you have any idea of what time it is? It's two in the morning, everyone is asleep." Ryuji shouted and stepped towards her in an unspoken challenge. "Now go to bed damn it!!" He growled through clenched teeth, and he glared at her with his intense, furious golden eyes. She had never seen Ryuji lose his temper and she knew that he was very close.

"No!" She hissed again, smirking, knowing she was close to making him explode. He growled again and grabbed her around the waist, shocked by how light she was before tossing her onto her bed. She hissed at the rough treatment and when she attempted to sit up Ryuji pushed her back onto the bed, sitting next to her.

"Go to bed, it's late and you need the rest!" He said wearily, as if he had been up for three days with no sleep.

"Nope and the moment you leave my apartment, I get back up and beat the answers that I want out of the Hokage!" She regretted her words the next moment though when he looked down at her with a piercing gaze and nodded to himself.

"You would do that wouldn't you? Well… you leave me no choice…" He sighed heavily before continuing. "So I guess you need to move over…" He laid down on the bed facing away from her after she moved over confused and she jumped out of the bed too quickly and fell backwards as soon as her feet touched the wooden floor. Ryuji moved quickly and grabbed her hand and waist, but in shock at his touch she pushed his hands away from her only to fall hard on her butt.

"Ow… just what the hell do you think you are doing on my bed?" She asked sourly, her voice strong and livid as she got up and rubbed her butt tenderly. Ryuji stared at her through narrowed eyes, his eternal patience with her gone for now, and she stared at his with the same rage that had his rigid body gave away with every subtle movement as he stood up.

"Raida you stupid, self-centered, arrogant brat! Get in the god damn bed and go to fucking sleep! There is no other place to sleep here so we will be sharing the bed for one night! I didn't expect this any more than you did, well… actually I did but that's only because I have been watching you for four years, and that has given me the knowledge that if you want something you get it… but could you deal with it reasonably for tonight?" He demanded as, despite her at him for the earth-shaking blows to her dignity and ego, she found herself nodding slightly in consent under his golden gaze.

* * *

Raida woke up to the smell of something cooking and sat up groggily. "Morning already? Who the hell is cooking in my house?" She thought aloud, yawning as she stretched and the memory of her shameful behavior last night making her freeze. '_Well he wouldn't still be here… would he? I… I probably scared him away last night… yeah…_'She thought as she felt a blush warm her icy cheeks and she slipped out of the bed. As she crept toward the door and peeked out she saw that not only had Ryuji stayed, he had cooked himself breakfast which he was eating in her only chair.

She must have made some type of revealing noise because Ryuji looked up, smiling gently, and pointed to the large black pot on the stove. "Your bowl is on the counter, I made soup incase you still weren't feeling well." He greeted kindly, but she couldn't hide her confusion at his words.

"What are you talking about? I feel fine… actually I feel better than I ever have! I'm not sick… but thanks anyway." She replied with just as much kindness, but even though she tried to cover up her confusion, Ryuji noticed instantly.

"What's bothering you Raida?" He asked, setting down his bowl of soup and looking at her, concerned.

"Okay you want the truth? I can't help but wonder why you are still here and making me breakfast after last night… but wait I'm not even close being finished! You say that I said I was feeling sick but I have never felt better in my life. What is going on with you? What's going on with me?! I should be in class, now at my house yelling what I feel! Ugh!" She screamed with frustration before walking back into her room and going to the bathroom after she grabbed her clothes. "Why did I _ever_want to have a somewhat normal life? This is _so_ much better." She hissed darkly, sarcasm obvious in her biting remark.

* * *

Ryuji watched as she retreated into the bathroom, turning on the shower before she slammed the door shut. She had changed since she left, her outburst last night proved it but what could have happened, and who is the '_he_' that she mentioned? He had hoped to talk to her about it during his homemade breakfast but that failed when she once again blew up on him. '_She wants a normal life… but why would she have been on her way back when she fainted? We searched the bank of the river at least a dozen times… and where was she hiding? Another thing that worries me is the things she said last night… so many questions about her, but even with the four years that I have followed her I have no answers to them…_' He thought as he leaned back in the old rocking chair that she used for everything, his chestnut brown hair covering his eyes.

He said like that for a while trying to understand Raida but she was too mysterious to be figured out. She screamed, snapping him out of his thoughts and in the solitude of the room he laughed softly. "I forgot to tell her that there isn't much hot water left…" He said smirking.

* * *

Raida came out of the bathroom door shivering and dressed in navy blue sweatpants and black t-shirt. "You… get out of my house!" She growled, her fangs biting into her lips, staining them red with her blood. Ryuji stared at her shivering and shapely form, her black hair dripping on the floor as she glared back. "I said out!" She snapped and lunged forward, but the look in his golden, gem-like eyes stopped her… he looked to smug for comfort.

"Well I could leave but then the Hokage would have to have people watching you again…" He said slyly, his smile turning into a smug and triumphant smirk.

"What do you mean?" Raida said as she cringed, Ryuji's smirk reminding her of Gaara's insane promise slightly.

"Well when the Hokage came over this morning, yes he came by but let me finish before you begin your yelling, he wanted my thoughts on whether to punish you for running away from the village. I told him to overlook it one more time and as long as I'm given full responsibility for you then I'll take the punishments for what ever you do. So in exchange for me getting to live with you and being the only one that you have to answer to, you are as free as you'll ever get… but all I have to do is tell the Hokage 'never mind' and you'll be under full observation again." Ryuji said she gasped with surprise.

"What do you mean? I take care of myself, no one else is responsible for me, and…" She fell silent as her mind worked in overdrive to process his last words. "If you stay with me… then nobody will follow me? How-"

"None of your business Raida, now am I supposed to leave or not?" Ryuji asked, but he already knew her answer.

"Fine you can stay but there are a few rules that you need to follow. First, the hot water is all _mine_, use it again and I'll kill you. Second, you will not sleep in my bed with me again… ever! Third, you make a mess, you clean it up. Last but not least, _keep the fuck out of my way you asshole!_ Follow them and we will have no trouble getting along, if you don't… I'll torture you, making you beg for death." She said dangerously, and for the briefest moment their eyes met… hers blazing with a challenge and his answering with a cool, arrogant confidence.

"Fine, whatever you say…" She heard him mumble as he smirked victoriously again.

'_Think you won this? I'll make you want to leave!_' She thought before she spoke again. "Good and since I don't have a sofa or another bed you will be sleeping on the floor out here. Be careful… don't let your guard down." She said the last part in a sing-song voice, turning around to leave.

"Raida it's no longer wise to threaten me considering that I am the key to your freedom." He said and almost as an afterthought he smiled. "Your graduation test is in about twenty-five minutes so you may want to hurry to the academy."

She glared at him before glancing at the calendar on the wall and groaned when she saw that he was right. "Damn you Ryuji! Damn you to the deepest depths of hell you can go to." She snarled under her breath as she ran out the door.

* * *

Ryuji laughed to himself as she left, unsure of why he had to start with her but he was having too much fun to stop. He would need to make it up to her though tonight if he hoped to live until sunrise tomorrow.

* * *

Raida tried to calm down as she dashed wildly towards the academy to take her exam. '_Damn him! I'll skin him alive._' She thought bitterly ad swung around a corner, smirking victoriously as she spotted the academy doors. She pushed them open and ran down the hall to her classroom, opening the door as she slid into the room. "Raida? Where have you been!? You have been gone for a week!" Someone shouted and she cringed, turning to see a boy with blond hair, ice blue eyes, and his cheeks marred only by three whisker-like scars on each. "They said that you left the village!" He accused and she hissed through her fangs, fury rolling off her in waves.

"Naruto… not here, not now. I am here and that is all someone like you needs to worry about!" She hissed as she glared at Naruto, her hands balled into fists. She and Naruto were friends but anyone who was around them was acutely aware of the tension that was often felt between them. She was too pissed off today to put up with the violent urges that she got around him, so she gave in slightly as she loomed threateningly above him.

"Raida what's up with you today?" Naruto asked as his eyes narrowed with suspicion while he studied her.

She opened her mouth the say some sarcastic remark but someone called her name from the next room. She exhaled grateful for the excuse to leave, but she felt Naruto's gaze following her as she left the room.

The room that she entered was fairly small compared with the classroom but she would have to deal with the lack of space, Iruka and Mizuki sat at a table with the headbands for those who passed. "You weren't here earlier so I'll explain what you need to do. Make a dopple-ganger and you pass, you don't and you fail." Iruka said and she laughed with relief.

"Is that all? Are you being serious?" She asked in obvious disbelief, but she was smiling triumphantly. Iruka nodded and she giggled, forming the hand signs necessary to perform the jutsu. When she was done she was surrounded by four copies of herself, and she walked up to the desk, grabbing a headband. "Thanks!" She called sweetly as she left the room.

In the classroom Naruto waited and she walked up to him smiling sweetly as her grey eyes glowed with malevolence. "You don't pass I'll beat you to a bloody pulp, break every bone in your body, and then cut you up so I can laugh as you bleed out… so good luck!" She whispered, her voice coated with sweetness, before she left the room and running into the shopping district to forget everything on her mind… like why Ryuji didn't tell her that Naruto was asking about her and what she should ask the Hokage.

* * *

Raida walked quietly through the village when she spotted Naruto sneaking into the Hokage's house. '_What the hell does that idiot think he's doing?_' She thought curiously, looking up at the moon halfway across the sky. '_It's late… I should check this out…_'

She waited and soon enough Naruto came back out carrying a large scroll on his back. Raida stared at him with growing dismay and disbelief as she slowly realized that he had stolen from the Hokage. She took of after him in a rushed attempt to get him to return the scroll, and soon she found herself in a part of the forest surrounding the village when he finally stopped. "Naruto! What the hell do you think you are doing? Stealing from the Hokage! You need to go and give it back before the Hokage decides to punish you!" She hissed as she burst into the clearing.

"Raida? What are you doing here?" Naruto asked as he unrolled the scroll, unconcerned with Raida's intrusion. He looked over the scroll as glanced menacingly at him. "Okay, let's see. The first technique in the scroll is multiple dopple-gangers…" He groaned and she felt her curiosity perk up. "Man! My least favorite jutsu and suddenly it's turning up all over!"

"What are you doing?" She asked peaking over his shoulder at the scroll.

'_**Kyuubi… so close… close enough to destroy…**_' Hissed a voice in her mind and she jerked away from Naruto violently.

"Raida, are you okay?" Naruto asked as her sudden movement and the dark in her eyes frightening him slightly.

"Y-yeah… are you going to train? If so let me join you…" She answered in a shaky voice. She wasn't okay at all, the voices were back but she wouldn't let anyone else know how psychopathic she was.

"Sure…" He said eyeing her warily, not believing her.

"Okay!" She said with fake cheerfulness, the tension not leaving her body as she began reading over his shoulder again. "Oh… is that all?" She asked herself, and Naruto looked at her with exasperation.

* * *

Naruto and Raida were tired from all their practicing and Raida smiled with triumph. "Heh… great job." She said and laughed. Naruto sat on the ground huffing and she muttered under her breath. She became unusually quiet as a shadow loomed over the two of them, and when she looked up her breath caught in her throat. "Iruka-sensei…" She gasped as Naruto jumped up.

"Gotcha both now!" He said and she flinched guiltily.

"About time nosebleed! I found you!" Naruto shouted and Raida groaned inwardly.

"No, you fool! I found you!!" Iruka shouted as Raida inched away from the two, noticing before she slipped into the trees that Iruka's warm, chocolate brown eyes were studying Naruto with surprise.

She ran back towards her home but on the way she heard someone else going towards Naruto and Iruka, his movements harshly loud with his urgency to get there. "Who…" She asked on one in particular as she tried to distinguish the odd scent, and she flinched as she realized she could actually smell the person's scent like a dog could while she followed the person. When the person got to where Naruto and Iruka were, she saw the glint of light on metal and she screamed. "Naruto, Iruka, watch the hell out!" She hissed as she jumped out of the trees and tried to use herself as a shield between Naruto, Iruka, and the kunai coming towards them.

She blocked some of the lower kunai and but because Iruka was taller than her he still had some hit him. Her scream of pain became painfully lodged in her throat as she glared wildly around for the attacker and seeing Iruka's wounds. "I'm impressed that you figured out where to go." Mizuki said and a dark, understanding look shadowed Raida's eyes.

"You… AHH! You asshole…" She screamed as she pulled out one of the kunai that were lodged in her chest.

"Now I understand!!" Iruka said as Naruto looked between all three of them in confusion.

"The scroll, Naruto. Give it to me." Raida glare became much darker and more dangerous as he mentioned the scroll as she understood as well.

"Don't Naruto!" She screamed, a loud sucking sound coming from the wound in her chest every time she inhaled. She reached towards her waist for her katana and for the second time she remembered with sudden helplessness that Gaara from the Sand Village had it. "Naruto if you give him that scroll, I'll never forgive you! Ever!" She howled as the wound bleed heavily, her cool, crimson blood staining her shirt.

"Don't let him have it, Naruto! Protect that scroll with your life!" Iruka shouted and pulled a kunai from his chest as well. Naruto looked stricken as Raida struggled for breath, the skin around her lips turning light blue.

'_Damn… a sucking…chest… wound… FUCK!_' She thought pissed, knowing that she had royally fucked up when she pulled the kunai out of her. "Shit… I need a god damn medic! I'll die if I don't get help…" She muttered, irate as she remembered what happened last time she tried a medical jutsu… and during her trip down memory lane she missed some of the conversation.

"You… know what really happened in the incident where the fox demon was sealed up again twelve years ago, don't you…?" Mizuki asked leaning forwards slightly, and Naruto looked even more confused then she had ever seen him. "Since that incident… the people of our village have been bound by the strictest decree."

"I don't remember any decree…"

"You're actually listening to him Naruto?" She asked astonished at Naruto's gullibility, her tone suggesting that she was questioning his sanity. "He's probably lying to you so he can get his filthy hands on the scroll!" She hissed softly, but Mizuki's gaze became locked with hers.

"Keep quiet snake-bitch, now… Naruto you would know about it. Part of that decree was that everyone would know about it… but you." Mizuki sneered and Raida visibly flinched, knowing the snake comment was directed at her.

"Mizuki! Shut up!!" She hissed, hiding her hurt and shame at his harsh words.

"Except me…? Why not me? What law are you talking about?" Naruto demanded and Raida groaned as Mizuki began laughing, she knew what he was about to tell him only because she had overheard some adults talking about it one day at the end of the school day. "What… what was the decree? What?"

"That no one must ever tell… that what you really are… is the demon fox!!"

"What?" Was all Naruto managed to say, his eyes wide with shock. "Wha… what are you talking about!?"

"You filthy liar! Tell him you're lying! Naruto don't listen to him!" She said, glaring murderously at Mizuki as she moved closer to Naruto, as if to protect him from Mizuki's harsh words.

"STOP!!" Iruka shouted furiously as Raida grabbed Naruto's shoulders, her blood staining his orange shirt where ever her hands touched.

"It's true; you… are the nine-tailed fox that destroyed the village!!" Naruto stood as still as a statue as the information sunk in and in her wounded state, Raida couldn't snap him out of it. "It was you who murdered Iruka's family. Until, at last, out beloved hero, the fourth Lord Hokage, trapped and bound you in this form…"

"Naruto! Don't listen to him! You are only you, not a damnable demon fox!" Raida shouted over Mizuki's next words. Her eyes flickered towards Mizuki as she heard the sound of metal cutting through air, and she smiled with absolute peace as she saw the oversized shuriken he was preparing to throw. "I'll prove that you're only Naruto… I'll protect you, Iruka, and anyone else you care about with until I die…" She said serenely, her grey eyes holding nothing but sympathy for the mischievous blond. "Now Mizuki, I'm going to kill you for this!" She hissed and jumped towards him as he threw the weapon, moments later she crashed to the ground limply, her eyes wide with pain and shock as it landed in her chest.

"Raida!!" Naruto shouted as she plummeted to earth, her body numb as the power that she had tasted back in the Sand Village slowly began taking over again, only this time with more forcefulness. She laid there dazed, her eyes slowly becoming blood red and her skin becoming slightly darker as well as more scale-like.

"**Forget about me… protect the scroll.**" She hissed as the wounds slowly began to heal on there own. An ominous feeling overtook the three men there as she laid there, her nails becoming deadly claws.

"Touching… to bad no one will ever truly accept you." Mizuki said scornfully as soon as his terror faded away, and grabbed the second large shuriken from his back. "That scroll that you've stolen… it was the instrument of your bondage!!" He said and threw the weapon before Raida could get up to protect Naruto once again.

"**NO!**" She shrieked and cringed at the next sight of Iruka shielding Naruto, the large shuriken that had pierced his back exactly like the one that now laid on the ground, bloody and warm, knocked out of her when she landed on the ground. "**Iruka!**" She gasped as the smell of his blood overwhelmed her, filling the air with the rust and salt stench. She noticed Mizuki's shock at Iruka's actions and she relished the fact that this was harder than he thought it would be.

Naruto's eyes flickered back and forth between Raida and Iruka. "Why…?" Raida snorted in an irritated way that was meant to be incredulous but it was too weak with sorrow to be.

"I…" Iruka looked deep in thought, and glanced at both his wayward students as he spoke again, tears falling freely from his chocolate eyes. "With my parents gone… there was no one to praise or respect me. I was so lonely… I became the class clown… anything to attract attention. I just wanted someone to notice how good I was… to be proud of me. Being the class clown… was better than being a nobody. It… hurt so much. I know that, Naruto… Raida…" Iruka looked at her as if he knew her secret, and alarm flared through her, forcing her to look away quickly before he saw the changes that had overtaken her. She sighed with relief when he turned away, knowing that the Hokage _must_ have said something with the way he had looked at her with heart wrenching sympathy and understanding. "I was so hard on you both, yelling, scolding… it must have hurt… forgive me. If I had been a better teacher… a better self… maybe none of us would have come to this." He said as Raida gauged Naruto's reaction, knowing he was close to breaking point.

"**NARUTO!!**" Both Raida and Iruka shouted at the exact same time as he ran from the two men and girl. Mizuki laughed as he jumped down from his tree branch and walked towards Iruka, Raida flinching at the harsh sound of his laughter.

"What a pity… but I'm afraid, once Naruto set his mind on something, he can't be dissuaded. He's going to use the scroll to take revenge on the village! Did you see the look in his eyes? Those were the eyes of the demon fox!" Mizuki said and Raida stood, stumbling to her feet, unable to listen to him anymore.

"**Who the hell do you think you are Mizuki?**" She hissed as she glared into his eyes, her blood red jewel-like eyes causing him to freeze momentarily in fear. "**Naruto is no demon… but I am! And for you to do that to him… I'll kill you for that!**" She hissed as a tear fell from her porcelain cheek and onto the ground. She looked at Iruka, their eyes meeting for just a moment before she saw the terror in them, but her eyes burned with absolute authority as she turned away from him, knowing that she probably wouldn't be welcomed back into the village after this.

"Kill me?" Mizuki demanded incredulously, and Raida dropped into a watchful, predatory crouch. "I'll kill Naruto, then you Raida, and lastly you Iruka." He said before taking off after Naruto.

"**Keep out of my way… or you may end up hurt or…**" She couldn't bring herself to say that she may kill him as well before she took off after Mizuki, the black chakra from before swirling around her, concentrated around her heart.

Raida caught up to Mizuki in minutes, her movements becoming wilder as she slowly began to completely lose herself in an unholy and bloodthirsty power. "**You have threatened my friend… wounded me and my teacher… and caused the demon inside of me to awaken…those crimes, along with your crimes against our village are reason enough for me to kill you…and trust me, I'll make it painful and slow so you can beg me for a release from the pain that you will experience because of me…**" She hissed as she grabbed his shirt and forced him to the ground, the bloodlust she felt no longer was under her own control… and she wanted to torture him, ripping him apart mentally before she inflicted true pain. Once on the ground though, she pounced on him, her claws ripping bloody gashes in his sides, her fangs glinting in a toothy grin just above his neck, the blood red gems for eyes clouded by something beyond what the twelve year old could have ever began to imagine… a bloodlust so monstrous that a terrified yell tore from Mizuki's throat.

"_**Any last wi-**_" She was lifted off of him and she shrieked with loss and rage at the loss of her victim as she tried to spinning around in the person's grasp while lunging at Mizuki with the intent to kill him. When she succeeded in spinning around to face the person she froze… her blood red eyes wide as she caught the gaze of the person's golden eyes. "_**Ryuji, wha-**_" Something hit her in the back of the head and her eyes turned back to storm grey as warm, comforting blackness washed over her…


End file.
